Tonight in the Cavern, I counted the stairs

I think I ended up counting them six times. It was the only way to be sure. Up and down. There are 228 stairs from the Ferry Terminal to the top of the Great Stairs. And then it was off to the midnight neighborhood run. I was able to get three hoods done. In the fourth I stumbled upon a new explorer. Poor guy didn't even have his KI yet. I hope I was able to help him. I told him how to get to the KI dispenser and then on to Nexus. It wasn't my hood, so I wasn't able to follow him to THAT Garrison, but hopefully he was able to follow my directions and make his way to the Guild of Greeters. A little organization is a good thing sometimes. It is wonderful that there are parts of our community that have fairly complete organizations with leadership and officers and event staff. And everyone seems to get along great on the various forums. But what I don't understand is this feeling that the Explorers who were elected by the community at large do not seem to get the support of the community. I mean, let's face it, we did put them there. The DRC Liasions. They are a group of five Explorers who were elected in April of 2006 and reelected in October of the same year. The whole panel of them, reelected by the community. And they have had the thankless task of trying to be the conduit between the DRC and the Explorer community, and facilitate some meetings, town halls really. Two hundred twenty eight stairs from where we first linked in to the City to where the first barriers were when the DRC reopened the cavern. I think I counted them six times. At first I tried to count all 228 stairs in one go, and I stumbled a couple of times during the counting, and had to go back and start over. It was just too much for one person to do. That's really the way it is, isn't it, we always try to take on the big tasks trying to get to the top in one big push, everything all at once. But it's a lot of work, and I ended up on my face. There are some landings on the way up the stairs, places where you can rest. The first one is something like 27 steps up from the ferry, the next is the landing where the stairs turn, 34 steps further along. I took some time there just to listen to the water of the lake against the bulkhead, and look out across the lake to the Arch of Kerath. It was a calming rest. I took some time to see what happens if I squinted while looking at the Arch. Almost could see the face of a Bahro in the shape and lights there. So here I am about 61 steps up, about a third of the way there. I'm not done yet. And I almost let myself end here, having been distracted by something I thought I could see. There is no face of a Bahro in the lights of the Arch. I started to count again. Up to the landing at the bottom of the great stairs, where that new t-shirt is. There's two paths here, but it turns out both are the same, 14 stairs a piece. Sure they paths aren't identical, but when are any two Explorers' path's identical? That's just the nature of the Journey.
You know, the very first time I took the Journey so many years ago, I did not even know enough to go get a KI? Working without tools. It's a wonder I finished that first Journey without the ability to organize my thoughts. I couldn't take pictures of the marvels that I saw. I couldn't take notes. And I was alone. There was no way that other Explorers could even hope to help me. I lacked the tools I desperately needed to acquire. And I didn't even know what I was missing. The lack of organization meant the Journey was almost lost. I was lucky. Another Explorer helped me. And that Explorer doesn't even know what they did. The help came from a post in a forum that got me asking the right questions. A single piece of information helped me organize my thoughts and start asking the questions in the right way. It made the Journey so much easier. And all this before I ever met another Explorer in the Cavern. How much easier is today's Journey because we learned some tools along the way? We learned how to talk to each other. We learned how to pull together and help. The DRCL were asked by our community to help. Even though we did not understand what it was they were going to be doing. I think it is sad that here we may have a tool, fellow Explorers on their own Journeys, and we just don't know how to use them. And the do seem to want to be used. I wonder what happened to that new Explorer I tried to help tonight. I really do not know what happened after he linked away and I was unable to follow him on the start of his Journey. How many more are out there, just now finding D'ni? We have a number of organizations out there that say they want to help new Explorers. They want to share with them the tools we have from years of exploring this civilization. Has it really been twenty years since the rediscovery of D'ni. Plenty of time to forget the lessons we learned so long ago. Standing on the landing tonight, there were other Explorers doing the thinks that Explorers tend to do when they are waiting for something to explore. The Kahlo pub is right there. Some Explorers have learned to use the way the lake, the landing and their own incredible sense of balance to amaze others on their journey up the stairs with the illusion that they are floating. And did I mention the pub. But here I was, at the bottom of the longest stretch of the Great Stairs with a long, climb without a landing in front of me. There were 142 stairs behind me. And here I was, just getting into the final stretch, nothing to stop me. Some where around 30 stairs up from that last landing, I lost my count, lost my way. I had a number of false starts. There were other Explorers who did not see the joy of what I was doing. I was just counting the stairs to them, over and over. I don't think I was bothering. Maybe I was counting off stairs at the landing too loud, but you know how it is when people are counting, someone always has to call out numbers to throw your progress. Some asked why I was counting the stairs.
In truth, I wanted to know the answer to question that not everyone knew. There had been a gathering at the top of the stairs where Explorers were asking hard questions and trying to guess at the answers. I found that I did not know the answers to lots of the hard questions. Or I answered some of the questions in a way that made my answers harder to understand. Everyone had their own style. I think I came in third. But next time, I will be armed with the answer to an impossible question. I know how many steps there are from the Ferry to the top of the stairs. But it isn't about individual accomplishment, this series of questions and answers exchanged in turns. It was about learning something new about the Cavern, the City, D'ni and it's history. It was about sharing that knowledge with other Explorers who were there that day.
I learned that there were more people than I remembered working to help communicate the history of the D'ni to the Explorers. People I didn't know, translating the story behind the Journey for others. You don't always know everyone you are taking for granted. You just expect the books to be there. You just expect that someone is going to be there to give you the information. I wonder if the translators feel like the DRCL.
I kept climbing, up and down, starting over when I had to. I made that Journey multiple times. Some of the other Explorers seemed to want to help, but didn't know how. How do you help a single Explorer who only wants to count the stairs? Up and down, six times over. I didn't explain to them how I was choosing to count the stairs, just that I wanted to count the stairs. Some were just amused that anyone would want to count the stairs, over and over, maybe six times.
There are some wonderfully talented Explorers in the community. But I don't think that any of them know how to read my mind. All they know is that I was counting the stairs. They may never know I was getting ready for the next time we trade questions, looking for answers and keeping score of who knew what, and who stumped whom. Up and down I counted this last section. It was almost like I was confused finding that I didn't get anything different counting up one way and down the other. I counted then again, and again, and I did start getting the same answers, but I still kept counting the same stairs over and over. Up one way, and down the other. Two hundred and twenty eight stairs from the Ferry Terminal to the top of the Great Stairs. The same two hundred and twenty eight stairs that have stood there for ten thousand years. And I counted them up one way and down the other. Up one path and down the other. Over and over again, getting the same answer. It reminded me of while the barriers were still in place at the top of the Great Stairs. Meeting the DRC, Dr. Marie Sutherland, for the second time. We asked a lot of the same questions that had been asked before. We got a lot of the same answers I heard in Bevin when I got to meet Dr. Sutherland for the very first time. And in the transcripts of dozens of other meetings. Two hundred and twenty eight stairs. Counted six times, up one path and down the other. With and without the help of other Explorers. All alone while everyone was together. So I could get the answer to an impossible question, to know something unknown by other Explores. And then I found out that was a half hour late for the midnight run through the public neighborhoods. Oh, did I mention that I found a new Explorer in one of the hoods, alone, without even a KI? And you know, I'm not sure I won't get a different number again when I next count the stairs. Of course, if everyone knew there were 228 stairs, then we wouldn't need to count them. But I wonder if anyone else sees the number of stairs as important. It's just one piece of information that I'm going to have to share for it to be useful. Some Explorers might say it's not useful right now to insist on knowing the number of stairs. They will find out when they need to know it. Someone may even just up and tell them. Maybe the DRC. Two hundred and twenty eight stairs from where you first link to the City to where the barriers used to be.
But some barriers are still there on the stairs. Maybe if the Explorers were organized, the fewer barriers there would be.